Question

Mary and Ryan each have some sweets.

The ratio of the number of sweets Mary has to the number Ryan has is 3:2
If Mary gave 5 sweets to Ryan they would have the same number of sweets.
Work out how many sweets Mary and Ryan have altogether.

Answer 1

Answer: 25

Explanation:

3x - 5 = 2x, so

x = 5.

And 5x = 5*5 = 25

Answer 2

Let x be the number of sweets that Ryan has.

Since the ratio of the number of sweets Mary has to the number Ryan has is 3:2, we can say that Mary has 3/2*x sweets.

We know that if Mary gave 5 sweets to Ryan they would have the same number of sweets, so we can write the following equation:

3/2*x -5 = x

By solving this equation, we can find that x = 10. So, Ryan has 10 sweets

Therefore, Mary has 3/2*10 = 15 sweets.

Altogether, Mary and Ryan have 15+10 = 25 sweets.